


Mad

by StarburstGalexy



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 18:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17085323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarburstGalexy/pseuds/StarburstGalexy
Summary: Yugi needs to vent his love for Atem to someone, so he asks Jonouchi for help.





	Mad

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shazamitylam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shazamitylam/gifts).



> My way overdue gift for [shazamitylam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shazamitylam) in [YGO Mini Exchange '18](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/YGOME18)!
> 
> I'll be real with you fam, this fic does not fit up to my own standards, that's why it's so late - I wanted to make a more proper fic for you but academics kicked my butt way harder this semester than expected and I didn't have the luxury to rewrite. However, with the help of wonderful [Lord_Overlord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Overlord) who beta-ed, we polished this into something I could accept giving to you. I hope we succeeded!
> 
> Your prompts, as simple as they are, were very inspiring. The platonic one was also sweet, I may write and gift it to you one day! No promises though.
> 
> Happy 2019!
> 
> Edit: now with a [dope fanart by celepom!](http://celepom.tumblr.com/post/181367832312/based-on-mad-by-starburstgalexies-i-dont-draw). That's right, I am one of the cool kids with arts for their fic now. (thank you celepom!)
> 
>  _Prompt of the Assignment:_  
>  Atem stays AU. Yugi isn't sure how to ask Atem on a date, so he asks Jonouchi for advice.

As far as Yugi was concerned, he was already quite aware that his feelings for Atem had long exceeded simply friendship. He wasn’t _in love_ with him, not really - yet he knew he _could be_ , felt himself hanging on the brink of it, ready to fall any second now. And still, he was confident in his ability to realize it when he did, inevitably, plummet off of that cliff.

Then one day, Yugi found Atem preparing a dinner’s worth of okonomiyaki despite his sheer dislike of seafood. He figured it was yet another one of the endless ways Atem said thanks, as he did every once in a while, full of unnecessary gratitude for being let into their family (as well as dealing with all the legal issues of being supposed to have died millennia ago). It had been months since the ceremonial duel that Yugi had purposefully yielded, yet still Atem refused to cease his occasional gestures of thanks. Sure, it was kind of endearing, but it was flustering nevertheless. He didn’t know how to convince Atem that having him there was the exact opposite of ‘inconvenience’, so he let him be.

Besides, Atem looked all too happy to have people enjoy his crafts, so Yugi couldn’t find in himself to stop him from picking up new hobbies – not even from cooking something he wouldn’t even eat himself.

So Yugi resorted to just sitting on top of the counter as Atem prepared the batter, and laughed as he would scrunch his nose up at the sight of octopi, spectacularly ruining every bit of regality he had maintained despite the flour he blew into his face and the frilly apron he donned.

“Gods never meant seafood to be served as dinner,” Atem commented, not for the first time in the recent years Yugi had known him. Despite his complaints, he was still dutiful and attentive when he set the pieces of the octopus down.

“Then why don’t you cook it for lunch?” Yugi grinned.

Atem stopped in his tracks, staring at the other boy while trying to maintain an exasperated expression. And, just as expected, he failed spectacularly, his quivering lips finally giving way to a chuckle. He turned his gaze back to his work and shook his head.

“Never change, partner.”

Nothing was unusual about this exchange.

Nothing at all.

And that’s _precisely_ why panic immediately manifested in Yugi’s heart when his breath caught at the mere sight of Atem, covered in flour and full of glee.

Goodbye, the edge of the cliff - welcome, the abyss of the fall.

***

“Jonouchi…” Yugi whined onto the surface of the table, about one week after realizing he was in love with his other self.

“Huh?” Sipping from his straw, Katsuya leaned back on his chair, nowhere near concerned.

His nonchalance was _killing_ Yugi. He scratched his hair in frustration. “What am I going to do?”

“Ask him out?” Katsuya shrugged. “I don’t know why you’re coming to me with love stuff, man. Isn’t Anzu better with this stuff?”

Because Yugi didn’t like talking to Anzu about romance. Not even because he used to have a crush on her, far from it. Anzu tended to analyze romantic stuff from every angle and possibility, which would only give Yugi more reasons to panic about how badly he could screw everything up. He did not want her expertise - right now, he needed Katsuya’s simplicity.

“Anzu… makes it complicated,” he finally relented. “I need your-” _simple-minded_ “-help, Jonouchi.”

As wired up as Yugi was about coming off wrong, he must have said _something_ right, because Jonouchi was immediately fired up. “ _Alright!”_ He slammed the cup on the table hard enough to spill the soda around. A waitress glared, and Yugi threw her the most apologetic look he could muster as she passed by. “Love Doctor Katsuya Jonouchi PhD is on the call! Let’s do this!”

Do what, exactly? Yugi only needed to talk.

“Actually, I just-”

Katsuya was already right beside Yugi, hooking an arm around his shoulders. “We need to set the ambiance! The mood! All has to be perfect for my best buddy to ask my other best buddy out!”

“Wait, wait, wait, Jonouchi-” Yugi could feel blood rushing to his face. He waved his hands around in a panic, “I never said anything about- I am not- I won’t ask him out!”

Now the target of the glares was Yugi, from the patrons around them _and_ the waitress from before who came to clean Katsuya’s mess.

“Ha? Why not?” Katsuya didn’t seem too worried about how the waitress could still hear them talk about Yugi’s very private romantic problems. “You like him, I can’t think of a universe where he doesn’t like you, wedding bells are ringing…”

“Wha- what wedding bells?” Maybe Yugi _should_ have had talked to Anzu. “Slow down, I am just trying to-”

He didn’t know what he was trying to do, to be honest.

Katsuya seemed aware of the fact.

“What’s stopping you? There’s nothing-”

“There’s not _nothing…_ ” Yugi reluctantly interrupted. “You know, ruining friendships, making it awkward… We did share a body for years…”

“Well, I can’t talk about the body part, but there’s no way you two can get awkward, ever. Don’t even get me started on the _friendship_ part, ya dingus.”

Okay, even Yugi’s wildest fantasies couldn’t muster up a picture of Atem going cold on him over a confession. “Things turning awkward is _not_ impossible though…”

“Yeah duh, if you screw it up-”

Yugi opened his mouth to say how that’s _exactly_ what he was worried about-

“-by bottling it up and _not telling him_ ,” Katsuya said pointedly. “Doing nothing is the surefire way for you to screw this up big time, pal.”

Okay, yeah, he had a point.

Katsuya could be very wise when it came to friendships.

“But maybe I should wait on this for a bit. Ensure that this is, you know… Real.” Even when saying the words out loud, Yugi knew there was nothing to make sure of. This fall of his was not a sudden crush, it was a steady progress that had built up over the years, and Yugi had been aware of his feelings every step of the way.

Katsuya snorted exactly for this reason.

“Nah, pretty sure the feelings part is legit. Just follow your heart, dude.” He hugged Yugi closer again, squeezing the smaller boy in his embrace with his arm while he pumped a fist into the air with the other. “And I will be your trusty guide! Operation: confess to Atem is a _go_!”

Yugi still was not a hundred percent sure about taking a step just yet, but Katsuya’s energy was contagious. He was already feeling better about the whole ordeal, and perhaps he really could take the courageous step.

“Alright,” he smiled up at his friend and took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

***

The ‘operation’, as Katsuya called it, was initiated on that very day.

Their plan was simple – Katsuya phoned Atem right around when his shift in the game shop should end for movies and arcade. It had to be him, because, being overtly aware of what he was doing, Yugi would needlessly sweat and stutter even over this one thing he casually did every other day. While Atem was on his way, Katsuya would keep buttering Yugi up to his confession. In the arcade, Yugi would ask Atem if he’d like to go out on a very non-platonic date sometime. If Atem said yes – Katsuya would come up with an excuse to ditch them so they could be alone. If Atem said no, which, Katsuya seemed awfully doubtful of – the three would just keep hanging out and Katsuya would make sure to distract both of them in case of awkwardness ensued. If Atem reacted badly - and even Yugi himself didn’t believe that would happen but he really felt better preparing for the worst - Katsuya would knock sense into Atem while Yugi scratched plans for a time machine.

“Basically I am your support unit, pal,” Katsuya ended. “You might want to let go of that time machine, though – we all know your science grades.”

And as thorough and ready as both of them were, neither of them could’ve been prepared for Atem’s actual reply:

 _I promised to help Grandpa with the groceries, sorry,_ the grammatically correct text message read. _Perhaps tomorrow?_

“N’aw…” Katsuya sighed, but Yugi felt relieved. Somewhat.

***

Yugi’s next mistake was forgetting Katsuya’s text about _we’ll get you going today, pal_.

Amidst helping his grandfather in the game shop’s storage next afternoon, he felt something heavy being thrust into his embrace out of nowhere, making him stumble backward. “Wha- Jonouchi? Are these… roses?”

“Yup!” Katsuya scratched under his nose, a bit too proud of himself. What was he even doing here..? “Roses are the ultimate romantic gesture.”

“Jonouchi, I weigh as much as these roses,” Yugi objected, struggling to hold them up. “Please tell me you didn’t pay for these.” Roses were too expensive to be bought in a bulk like this.

“Nah, we’re still good with Shizuka’s old nurses, they agreed to get me some from the rooms of comatose patients. Be quick though, they may wilt any day now.”

“Jonouchi-” Giving up, Yugi unceremoniously dropped the massive bouquet to the ground. “You shouldn’t steal from patients! I don’t know how you got the nurses to agree with you.”

“Because it’s not stealing, these are at least a couple days old. The poor cranks would only wake up to see them cleaned up, you’re practically doing them a service.” Katsuya shrugged. “And I said it was for love.”

“Atem would prefer white lilies anyway…” Yugi mumbled to himself, but of course, Katsuya still heard him.

“Well why didn’t you just say so?!” He exclaimed before taking off.

All Yugi could do was shout “Jonouchi!” to no avail. The guy had already disappeared with his irritatingly athletic body.

Maybe he should wait on this asking Atem out thing until Katsuya calmed down a bit.

***

“Aaaaaand red candles. No romantic dinner without red candles.”

Yugi felt dizzy over how fast Katsuya was going through a list he seemed to have written down. Actually – he felt dizzy over how much further Katsuya was getting excited by this with each passing day. “Romantic dinner with _grandpa_ there? And, wait- I thought I was going to ask him out with lilies?”

“That was _yesterday’s_ plan, Yug’! Get on with the times! We are going with a dinner now.”

 _Why?_ “I am not proposing to him, you know.”

“Confessing, proposing, same difference.” Katsuya waved a hand around casually. “We gotta make it as romantic as possible to increase our chances.”

“…chances of what?”

“Atem accepting, of course!”

Yugi opened his mouth to point out that Katsuya was looking pretty sure Atem would accept earlier, however, he was interrupted with the door opening. “I am accepting what, exactly?”  

Here went Yugi’s heart. _Why_ did Katsuya have to ‘talk strategy’ when Atem was home?

“I- um-”

Katsuya was no subtler. He rushed to hide his papers, unsuccessful with Atem’s gaze on him. “Accepting that- uh- accepting to shred these!” Unceremoniously tearing his list apart, Katsuya added, “But we leave you no choice, because you are too late! Haha!”

Atem raised an eyebrow. “…Fortunately, I see no problem with torn papers, so you can rest easy.”

“It’s- it’s a- private matter, my other self…” Yugi tried. Saying these words felt so wrong – private matters from _Atem?_ Yugi’s privacy had always included Atem since he solved the Millennium Puzzle years ago, even when he didn’t know that.

“I… understand.” Atem seemed confused – maybe even heartbroken, in that subtle way only Yugi could read. He knew Atem felt the same about sharing everything between the two of them.  “I’ll leave you two to it, then.”

He smiled and left, polite as always. Yugi felt like absolute shit.

“I feel like you could’ve been smoother there, Yugi.”

Yugi didn’t grace that comment with a reply, resolving to lie down on the floor instead. He should have talked to Anzu, shouldn’t he.

“Drop this, Jonouchi.”

“Huh?”

Rolling onto his back, Yugi clenched his jaw. “Drop this. I am definitely not going to confess anytime soon.”

Katsuya was not the same as he was back when Yugi told him about his feelings for Atem. That day, his optimism and headstrong logic was what Yugi needed – but today, he was not making any more sense than Yugi himself was.

He had a _list,_ for Pete’s sake. A list that included _candle-lit dinners_ and _getting on one knee_ – how formal did Katsuya think asking someone out was?

“No way!” Katsuya exclaimed. “We already went through this, you-”

“Yeah, but I… don’t wanna do this now, Jonouchi. I don’t want to feel like I have to do this anymore.” he gulped down, cold shiver running down his back. The task was feeling less like a solution and more like an obligation at this point.

He just wanted to stop.

“Let me, I don’t know, pine for a bit? I’ll come to you again when I want to act.” Mustering up a smile, Yugi tried to give his best friend a reassuring look. “I promise.”

Katsuya sighed, but didn’t press further. “Well, since you promised…”

That was supposed to be the end of it, but that night, Katsuya texted him _Yugi, you **have to** tell Atem what’s up!_

Which only made Yugi groan. He didn’t want to argue or talk further about this - he was just going to ignore Katsuya until he learned to let it go.  

***

Although heavily strategical games were more Yugi and Atem’s forte, it felt nice to unwind with a relatively mindless shooter game once in a while.

Yugi’s phone went off occasionally, but Atem hadn’t questioned why they were ignoring it quite yet.

“Did I hear Bakura earlier?” Atem asked as his character was standing idle, waiting for Yugi’s stealth-based character to give the signal for their next move.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, he stopped by to drop the udon you asked for. Was in a hurry, said he didn’t have the time to visit you at the shop either.” Yugi shrugged sheepishly. Come to think of it… “You are cooking pretty often recently, my other self- careful, I don’t see the sniper. Do you really like it?”

“I guess so…” Atem moved his character to a building for a better cover. “It’s more fun than I initially expected. Playing around with ingredients to find the best outcome is rather calming. It’s kind of like a puzzle.”

Yugi smiled at him. “I am glad you’re enjoying it, then, my other self.” His phone dinged with another message. He frowned at it.

“Do I need to know what’s going on?” Atem gave up and asked.

 _Absolutely not._ “I am ignoring him on purpose.”

That made Atem’s brows furrow as well. “That’s not like you, partner. Is something wrong?”

“No, no, no, nothing like that!” How could he explain Atem that Yugi was childishly ignoring Katsuya and Katsuya was childishly typing one character per text to get his attention – all because Yugi decided to sleep on confessing to _Atem_ himself? Scratching his cheek, Yugi tried to find an answer that would not worry Atem, “Well, you see…”

A stone hit Yugi’s window then.

Not a big one to break the glass or anything, just a pebble. Another followed pretty soon. Clearly to get attention rather than cause harm.

Considering the context, Yugi could guess very certainly who that was. Speak of the devil and all that jazz.

Atem was the first one to drop the controller and head to the window. Yugi sighed, paused the game, and begrudgingly followed him.

“Jonouchi?” Atem yelled down, surprised at this turn of events - unlike Yugi.

“Yo, Atem, tell Yugi to get his butt down here and stop ignoring me- oh, hey Yug’!”

Yugi resisted the urge to flip him off.

Atem turned to him with a deadpan expression, “Jonouchi wants me to tell you to get your butt down there and stop ignoring him.”

Taking a deep breath and smiling at Atem, who was quite innocent in all of this and didn’t deserve being dragged in between, Yugi said “I heard, my other self, but thank you. I’ll go down there now.”

And he did, ready to give Katsuya a piece of his mind.

“Jonouchi, I really don’t appreciate being rushed.”

“I get that,” Katsuya responded, sounding more understanding than he’s been acting. “And I have been too forceful. I’m sorry, alright?”

Well, that was a quick apology. “Yeah, let’s just say you can get too excited sometimes.” Yugi chuckled. He didn’t know how to respond to that when all his plan coming down here was to explain to Katsuya that he had been coming off way too strong since Yugi opened up to him about his feelings.

“Yeah, yeah- my point is, you really should talk to Atem-” Seeing Yugi already opening his mouth to protest, Katsuya interjected “No, not for bravery or anything. If you had read my texts once, you’d get it.” Scratching his head, he sighed. “He’s getting suspicious. But not of your feelings toward him.”

“…Suspicious?”

“Dude, when is the last time you’ve hidden something from him? I think he’s kinda feeling left out, too… Did you tell Anzu anything about this?”

“No, why?”

“Oh, crap, then I told Anzu- uh…” Katsuya stopped to think. “Well, she seemed like she did know, so I talked to her too and she wasn’t surprised, so I figured… Anyway, my point is – he and Anzu talked, too, it seems, and then he came to talk to me all… _Atem_ , you know, all king-y but also kinda friendly, kinda shy?”

Yugi nodded. He knew.

“He wanted to make sure if something is causing you trouble – or me I guess, we could tell him.”

“That’s what he said?”

“Yeah. You’re worrying him, Yug’.”

That was confusing. Yugi didn’t remember anything that would set Atem off except for yesterday. Maybe he was concerned about Yugi pointedly not talking to Katsuya all morning? But then again, Katsuya was saying that he talked to Atem before last night, when he started ignoring Katsuya. He frowned. “Why would he be _worried?_ ”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you were not very subtle.” Shrugging, the other boy yawned. “Look, just reassure him or something. That’s all I meant to tell you.” He suddenly grinned, giving a thumbs up. “I really am here to support you, Yug’. I’ll keep my butt out of your business for now, but you are obligated to keep me updated.”

“Hm.” Yugi smiled and nodded. Even though he could be stubborn as a bull, Katsuya really was one of the best friends anyone could have.

***

Was Atem a bit odd that evening, or was Yugi reading too much into it after Katsuya’s warning?

It wasn’t that he was colder or anything, just… not as cheerful. Maybe distracted. Maybe in thought. Maybe Yugi just came up with these adjectives because of his prejudice. Maybe Atem really was only frowning at the online go he was playing - despite it going way too smoothly for him.

Yugi kept an eye on his other self as he carefully dropped the hibiscus tea he had brewed for Atem. Atem accepted the treat with a genuine smile, one that made Yugi doubt his senses again – and went back to obliterating an opponent on his phone.

All the while still appearing to be in thought.

Often, Yugi wished they were still be able to communicate feelings and thoughts immediately, without needing to use words. They certainly were too good at reading each other despite it all, understanding the slightest hint, noticing the tiniest flinch – but it could never be the same as sharing the same mind.

“My other self…” Yugi started, not knowing what to do other than just confront him. “You seem to be concerned today. Is everything okay?”

“Of course.” It was not the time to focus on how silky Atem’s voice could be, but Yugi could still take a second to appreciate it. “I am just thinking about something.”

Well, Yugi knew _that._ Not knowing what Atem’s mind was busy with was the bothersome part. “I just wanted to make sure you can talk to me as always,” he offered.

Atem raised his eyebrows at that. Setting his phone aside, he turned his chair toward Yugi. “Oh? Is that not a tad hypocritical, partner?” His voice held no venom, kind as always to Yugi, but the implication was conveyed as clearly as Atem wanted it to.

So _this_ was what Katsuya meant.

However, while Yugi knew _why_ he caused such concern, he still had no clue _how_ Atem got the wrong idea. That’s why he was not playing obliviousness when he stuttered “W- What do you mean, my other self?”

“You have been acting strange for weeks. I… I know that you don’t have to share _everything_ with me, especially after not having much choice about it for years-”

“ _No,_ you got it wrong-”

“- _but,_ ” Atem stopped him, “I… want to know if I caused this, partner. You have been feeling a bit more distant from me, hiding _something_ from me, and I-” He took a deep breath, one that blew right through Yugi’s heart with guilt. “I can’t stand the thought of possibly causing you stress, Yugi.”

“You don’t- You _aren’t!”_ Yugi was sure he hadn’t been acting differently, so what happened?

Maybe Yugi _was_ hypocritical, because while he didn’t know for certain, he had a pretty solid guess. It was not a stretch to believe that Atem had caught up with Yugi’s feelings when they finally transformed into love but misread his nervousness.

“Then what’s wrong?” Atem insisted with his determined stubbornness. He wanted to set this straight.

Yugi could do that much for him. It was not an easy task, but Yugi was just as stubborn, especially against himself.

He took a deep breath. He let it out slowly. And Atem was patient with Yugi taking his sweet time despite the anxiety Yugi knew he harbored.

But even when he tried to think, he could find no simple way to come clear rather than-

“I love you.”

“…Huh?” Atem tilted his head to the side, expression dissolving into a surprised deadpan. Then he smiled, as soft as Yugi was always used to seeing. “I know, partner, I love you as well.”

“No, not like that, I mean-”

‘Beyond friendship’ was not the correct term, they had always been more than regular _friends_. ‘I _love-_ love you’ sounded too childish. And Yugi didn’t have enough guts to admit that he was in love even to Atem.

But he _did_ have just enough guts to jump across to bed and kiss Atem.

And so he did.

His entire body was flushed red with embarrassment, but he still kept his determination in his eyes when he pulled back and stared into Atem’s eyes. He could apologize if Atem rejected him, but he had to make sure he made him understand.

Atem did nothing but gaze into emptiness for a few seconds, eyes wide, mouth agape. And then he smiled again, sweeter than every smile he gave so far, eyes closed in content, and Yugi could swear he felt an electric jolt go right through his body.

“I love you as well, partner,” he repeated, and in the next moment Yugi was feeling himself melt into the chair within Atem’s arms, leaning his forehead on Atem’s and smiling back.

He would fully explain recent weeks later, but right now, Atem didn’t seem to be in any more rush than he was.

***

Katsuya slid between them as soon as they told him the news, wrapping an arm around their shoulders and squeezing them.

“Hell _yes!_ ” He exclaimed, grin as wide as his whole face. “ _Finally._ And you’re _welcome.”_

“We’re _welcome?”_ Yugi questioned, trying to regain his balance in Katsuya’s iron grip.

Atem, almost as short and light as Yugi, struggled just the same. “But you did _nothing_.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I did _everything_!” Katsuya insisted, pulling them in harder. “I raised the tension on purpose, guys. I am a master strategist.”

Yugi had major doubts about that, but Atem humored their best friend. “Of course, I see it now.” There was a playful smirk on his lips. “I appreciate all your efforts, Jonouchi.”

“Well, at least _someone-_ hey, wait, you’re mocking me!”

“I assure you, I am being a hundred percent honest,” Atem retorted, absolutely not sounding honest.

“You-” Katsuya let go of Yugi to fully take Atem into a headlock, giving him a noogie. “I’ll show ya not to be so ungrateful!”

Atem yelped in surprise, reaching out for Yugi to help. Yugi dodged, laughing all the while, and Atem cried betrayal.

It turned out that Katsuya had a point in rushing his confession, but then again, where was the fun in admitting that?


End file.
